New Beginnings
by eQuasarus
Summary: A Dark Future for Harry. Imprisoned in Azkaban and dead to most of the world, what will he become? Harry Potter no longer exists. Featuring Vengeful & Semi-Evil!Harry [WiP]
1. Thoughts

**Disclaimer: **Such a shame it isn't mine. Would've been different by my design.

**Summary: **A Dark Future for Harry. Imprisoned and forgotten by the world, what will he become? Harry Potter no longer exists.

**Author Note:** This story was originally published under the name of Despair. I completely rewrote it, there are a few lines that are from the original and the basic premise is the same. Read this and I'll leave the old on up for a while to let you compare if you'd like. This story is dark, or will be in time. It's from somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind that rarely come out.  
I changed the title because I thought it fit better

New Beginnings

• eQuasarus •

Chapter 1

• Thoughts •

People.

People are hopeless.

I never used to think so.

I _used _to think that they could get through anything.

They can't.

The weak rely on the strong. That is how things have always worked. That is how it will _always_ work.

If the strong are evil, then, no matter how people think it works, evil wins.

I was stronger.

I survived.

It's funny to think that once, I was _him._ A boy, no older than 12 asked me what it was like to be _him _and it surprised me.

It should have known then.

A great writer once said. "Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy."

Now I understand the truth of it, just as he did. He understood that in life I would fail. He didn't know me, he was before my time, but he knew my story. He knew my story even if he did not write it.

I am a character in a book that ended a long time ago, and I ended with it.

If I could take it all back I would. I would start from the beginning and embrace what I could have been.

No, it is not so. I can't go back and I won't. I've felt enough pain in my lifetime.

To see daylight, to see the sun rise above the cold waters that surround me, that would be a sight.

It's been a long time since I've seen any light from outside.

They're afraid of what I might do. If I were to get a breath of air then I would not be recaptured.

It's true.

They _should_ be afraid.

Soon, soon I'll have a chance.

I was never normal. From the day I was born I knew it. Every day I was careful, I pushed away things I would be punished for and hid thoughts that weren't right. Until the day my life changed.

The overgrown man with his untamed beard and worn clothing came.

He took me away from it as a white horse might do in a fairy tale.

I found a new home, a place where people loved me.

But, alas, my story did not end there.

There is no happily ever after, not for me, and not for any of those fools who hurt me.

Endless trials appeared, but I overcame them and continued fighting. A man molded me. He watched me carefully and guided me through my life, without my knowledge. Three people died because he allowed it, because I needed to become the hero.

A hero.

Ha!

I became what he made me. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't easy. I grew slowly, never stopping. Trials appeared in my life but I always overcame. I never knew defeat. As a child I might've run. But I no longer, it was not in my path and so even had I tried I would have been sucked back in. I never knew defeat, never knew what it was like to lose.

They captured me eventually, as was my fate.

Voldemort.

Fool. He thought that I might perhaps have some secrets locked within me that he could use.

For months he pushed my limits without killing me. He sought something which he could not have and he refused to accept it.

I would not break, I had a single thought that ran through my mind as I was endlessly tortured and it kept me from breaking. It kept me alive.

Again, it was not to be.

Before I was able to escape they found my Achilles' heel.

She was _supposed _to be hidden. I never doubted that she'd be hidden from their grasp forever, but history repeated itself and a friend betrayed my trust as had once happened with my father.

He'd broken, it was _his_ fault she was here.

When I saw her there, crying in complete agony, I offered myself to them. For her life I would have slit my own throat.

They didn't listen.

As I watched the person who I loved more than anything else in the world tortured I felt like dying myself. They left her with me, left her to die in my arms. I knew what pain she was in and what pain she would go through if she lived and so I took it from her, I took the pain away.

I once doubted myself.

No longer.

She would have died.

Even here, now, I know that.

In my life I lost many things: my godfather, close friends, my first love. But they were nothing; there was nothing comparable to having to lose her, to having to loose her from her bounds in life. She'd stood by me through everything, never wavering, keeping me strong.

When he came for me I hid her. I entrusted my closest friend with her secret and hid her from the world.

When she died, something inside me died. I no longer am the person I once was. I couldn't have controlled it even if I had tried, I changed.

Rage.

Anger.

Pure unquestioned hate.

Not a single person left the castle I was imprisoned in.

Men, woman, children, pureblood or mudblood, it didn't matter. The prisoners with them, I felt nothing for no one anymore.

_Yes. I did it._

For months I claimed otherwise. The ministry wouldn't listen.

To the people, I was a hero who defied the odds. To the ministry, I was only an unacceptable risk. They killed me. While I was detained and resurrected from near death, they manipulated the media and said I was dead. Somehow I lived, through my torment of her death I continued to live.

So they brought me here.

It's like a nightmare, an unending nightmare where I have lived for too long.

When I first came here there was nothing but pain. I screamed I hadn't, that I was innocent. But they'd heard it before and they'd hear it again, I was no different to them.

But I did do it. I knew it without a doubt. I remembered the vivid look on Voldemort's face as he met his fate.

Sirius told me once that the key to staying sane here was remembering a key moment and sticking to it. He'd also had his animagus form to help. I didn't, not then, not in the beginning.

I had that look. Death, fear, hate and loathing.

That phase passed quickly. I sunk into despondency. I anguished over what I had done and whether I should have done it. I tried desperately to kill myself, and luckily I was unable to.

Lucky for me.

The anguish phase passed quicker than the first and I became hard, terribly hard. I escaped once, but they caught me quickly. The first time was an awakening, I became aware that I could do things, things I shouldn't have been able to do.

I wasn't even sure of it myself at first.

By that time I was hallucinating, seeing things when I was alone, muttering things that I shouldn't be muttering. My clothing grew back. After being in there so long my clothing had started to fall apart from the wear of life, the constant rubbing against the rocks of the cell I was caged in.

It was odd that things happened and I only see them now, looking back. They say that hindsight is always twenty-twenty.

When the dementors passed I would hide myself in the farthest corners, pushing back as hard as I could so that I would not feel the pain. I imagined myself as a tiny bug that could move through the prison and do what I wanted to do. One day it just happened. I awoke and I was small. I was so tiny that I could fit through the grooves in the worn floor. I simply crawled away, spending hours making it out of the prison.

I came to the waters edge, to the my freedom.

I became myself again, knowing that I could not swim in my tiny form. But I hesitated. I looked out at the sea and I wasn't sure if I could swim it; if I could stay alive.

Unfortunately, I was spotted.

I awoke in my cell, thinking I had had a vivid hallucination or a dream.

They brought _him._

The Judas.

He stood there, just outside my reach, chiding me in his own way. He spoke quietly, he wasn't the same person I had once known. But I already knew that, he was a traitor. He was my Judas.

He asked me, of all things, what _she _would have done. He said that she would never have let me act this way.

I discovered something else about myself right then. I felt it, I could see myself do it. It was the second time that I had done such a thing, but the first time I was so out of control that I had not even noticed I'd done it.

In my heated rage I cast a spell on him.

I had no wand. It was lost in the rubble of a now dead and crumbling castle, somewhere amidst the bones of two hundred other people.

I didn't do it purposefully, though I would have had I had a choice.

All the same, I did it, and I _knew_ how I did it. After they dragged me off of him I could feel it deep inside.

He may have lived but now he'll be eternally cursed to wear my mark. A jagged lightning bolt would adorn his face now until the day he dies. That is, however, only a matter of time.

The events that had happened where explained by a foolish dementor. After all, I was not powerful enough to walk through the cells of the magical bars that kept me in place. They didn't understand, they didn't see how powerful I was.

When I was again confined to my cell I found myself at peace. I no longer heard the screams of my beloved every time I closed my eyes. I no longer saw myself pulling the life from her in order to save her from suffering. I no longer saw the child she'd hidden from the world and even from me.

I could see that thing that the dementors fed on. I could see it as plain as I saw the dementors. It was a sort of mist that filled the air. There were other things too. The bars that confined me where filled with magic and I could draw on it

The dementors watched me. I was a new thing for them. No matter how many of them came they could not take from me that which I would not allow.

Aurors came and went.

No one knew what was happening. They tried speaking to me, but I only ignored them, willing myself to do things, slowly becoming more powerful. I didn't escape again right away. I knew that should I do it again I would have to insure it was done right or I would never have the chance again.

The Aurors who came stationed themselves near my door so that they could watch me. The dementors could not discover my secret but they were determined to.

For months I sat on the floor of my small cell without moving. Not that anyone else saw. I copied myself into an inanimate form, leaving a dried body to take my place while I wandered through the cells invisible. The prison had been designed long before and though on occasion the charms were reapplied they were never done so with the same skill as they had been.

The bars couldn't hold me.

I was nearly caught many times. It was hard for me to hold myself invisible for long, it drained my magical power quickly and I couldn't discover a plentiful supply of it. I stole the magic from the Aurors slowly, keeping myself filled with magic. I stretched myself, filled myself over and over again, pushing more and more in.

Slowly one by one the Aurors would leave, and new ones would come. I never saw the same Auror twice.

When I finally plotted my escape again I was careful. Walking through the bars was easy. Walking past the Aurors was easier. They just stared down at my copy, never once thinking that perhaps it wasn't me. When I was close enough I could even make it move, just enough that they knew I was alive.

Passing the dementors was harder.

When I roamed the cells I was always careful to avoid the dementors. They usually stayed in pairs when roaming around, but then they seemed to have a way that kept the halls all within reach, spread out symmetrically. When I ran into one, they were all hard to avoid. I may have been able to pass through bars, but that was only because they were made of magic.

When I planned my escape I planned it based around the movements that I had kept track of. They shouldn't have been roaming near the front of the prison, but they were. I hid, but still it wasn't enough. I took another cell, keeping its current occupant sedated. I mixed my own aura with his and stayed away from the door. They passed by, leaving me alone with a muttering man who seemed even more insane than I was.

I left the prison that had become my home.

I left it only to return hours later.

They found out too quick. My copy did not survive long after I left. When it disappeared they sought me out. When I stepped onto the shore they were waiting.

I wasn't prepared for them.

Captured again.

They didn't send in the Judas, no, they had learned a lesson. Instead they brought a person who I loathed just as much.

My creator. He had always done things for _the greater good_. Ha! He did things to make sure he won. He manipulated people and their lives because he could not win himself. It was his fault that I fell in love. It was his fault for making me use the same spell that had caused my parents to die. _His fault_.

I was much more in control when I met him. My rage that before had been uncontrollable didn't seem to exist. It did, simmering beneath the surface.

He asked me if I thought that I should be doing this. If, though everything that I had done in life, I thought I was taking the right path. I didn't answer.

Truthfully I'd never really had a choice. He laid it all out, step by step. I simply walked the path he chose. When I strayed he brought me back. First, it was by letting a boy named Cedric Diggory die. He didn't mean to let him die, no, he was only trying to show me the truth. But it meant that Cedric died.

It happened from the beginning. Far before I met him he controlled my life. My Aunt and Uncle were given custody of me and he watched, from a distance as I grew up. He introduced me to Judas; he insured that I found my love. _He_ was my creator.

I was hard. I hated evil; it did many things to me. But he was not evil; at least, he claimed not to be. Always for the good of the world. Always for the betterment of others. He told me what I wanted to hear. Whispered sweet nonsense in my ears when I needed it most.

He was a puppeteer.

I told him to shove it as he walked away, in not so courteous terms. I've learned many things since I started my own path and patience is one of them.

Finding no alternative they decided I was no longer salvageable and they tried to cut their losses.

They made me.

Through their needs I was born. Because of their non-ability to fight that thing which would have conquered them. They created me at first through stories, and then through actions. They created the monster that they now faced.

They tried to destroy me.

They created me and they tried to kill me. It would never work, they molded me to well. They found the person who could become powerful enough. That was their mistake.

When the Dementor came into my cell I was there. I could no longer fool them with a fake body to take my place. The others left, those who were present disappeared, leaving in a orderly line. I didn't wonder why for long. A dementor, the only thing which had stayed, reached up and started to pull his hood away.

**His hood.**

"_The Dementors lowers its hood only to use its last and worst weapon._ _They call it the Dementor's kiss." _Those words of a once loved mentor echoed in my head as I saw the hood moving slowly up, revealing the face of death.

Grotesque was the only way to describe it. I thought of a decaying face I'd once seen when I was being tortured. One of the other prisoners had died in the cell next to mine and they let him sit, rotting where he'd died. This face reminded me of that.

It bowed its head, stooping to my level and reached down to grab me.

I lost all control at that moment and something happened. I do not know what happened, I do not care to know. The thing is no more. The moment before it administered its deadly kiss the room around me seemed to explode and that monster which had stood before me, turned to ashes.

So now I sit here, in a box.

Where it is I am not sure.

There is no entrance, there is no exit.

There is no light, only darkness.

My food appears in the middle of the room, twice a day. I eat and it is gone again.

I see no one.

No living things comes into my cell.

They're afraid.

They're all afraid.

This monster they created will escape one day and they'll know true fear.

They'll lose the ones they loved most.

They'll suffer as I did.

My Judas will know pain. He'll know the feeling of ultimate betrayal.

Ron Weasley, whose head now bears a scar like mine will see why I still live on.

They'll know the name of my love. Hermione.

They'll know that she died because they were cowards and could not protect themselves.

I was once the boy whose lives they put their hands in.

But that boy does not exist anymore.

Harry Potter is dead.

I've taken a new name.

_So? What do you think?_

_As with everything else: Should I continue?_

_eQuasarus_


	2. Escape

Chapter 02

• Escape •

They say there is always an opportunity for those who are patient enough.

Mine came, red carpet and all.

One moment, likely during the day, I felt them coming. For the first time in ages I felt a person, many people in fact. Their magic filled me with a fire that I hadn't felt in a long time.

The magic that lapped at my head me made me shiver involuntarily.

Shiver from the magic which lapped at my senses I felt such elation that I would have visitors. Mostly it was a culmination of many things. I felt emotion take hold of me, something I hadn't felt in a very long time.

Their power was enormous, nothing like the Aurors I had sapped before, they had power that I needed. The moment I felt it there was an overwhelming desire for it. I fed from them, not in large amounts, but very slowly and from all of them. Their magic was plentiful and I had no need to take it all.

Around me the box, which had kept me in an eternal night for so long, folded away. A blinding light filled my eyes and I felt a soft breeze touch my skin.

While my closed eyes slowly adjusted to the presence of light after so long, I shivered involuntarily again, this time because the lack of heat. The cell I was in had no heat or cold, it was perfectly matched for my body temperature and now it was not, it felt as if I'd walked into winter.

While my eyes adjusted I listened to the sounds that finally returned to my ears. The deep, labored breathing indicated that one of them was out of shape. It was obvious who it was based on their power levels. One man was so significantly different for the rest that he stood out like white on black.

No one spoke, leaving me to breath and find myself. It was a gracious gesture and I was happy that such a thing was given to me, I expected little from the ministry. I also knew that something was about to happen, there was a reason that I was surrounded by people who were the best, the most elite people I'd ever encountered.

My sight returned as slowly as they adjusted to the light. Opening them was easy enough, but I could see nothing more than massive amounts of light. Everything was so blurry it faded into a series of colors.

Standing in the middle of the crowd I reasoned with myself that perhaps I was being liberated, that it was a ceremony to release me. Even if it wasn't true I had no immediate plans of escape. Whatever the reason I had been released I would have time before I was returned to the emptiness. For now I had to replenish the magic that had left me while I was in the box.

Soft lines formed and then more defined shapes until I could eventually read the paper that had been sat in front of me.

The one single female that was in the group stepped forward and started into my eyes.

"Your crimes have been brought before the jury of council members. By unanimous votes the Wizengamot council has decided the punishment for your crimes upon the wizarding community and the world."

"Crimes?" I asked. My throat rasped from the lack of use. The last time I had spoken was a very, very long time ago. In fact, I hadn't spoken in such a long time that I'd almost forgotten what my voice sounded like. "And does the _council _feel it was fitting that I not be invited to my own trial?"

The girl trembled for a moment, shaking her head slowly.

From the moment I glanced into her eyes I knew it was a farce. She was likely the most powerful person in the room. I could see in her eyes while she stared at me, she was only playing a part. While around her everything continued on our eyes locked and for a brief moment it was almost as if she were sizing me up.

She was defining me with her eyes.

When she finally broke eye contact I felt relieved. For an instant I had almost been beaten down just by her stare. But, glancing around, I found that she was the only person who even dared such a thing. The other eyes in the room shifted to the floor with my stare. Every one of them, save the woman, was afraid of me. I relished the feeling that filled me.

"For the crime of killing ministry officials--" The woman's voice broke through my emotional state, angering me.

I turned to her and stared at her again. This time she did not tremble, rather try to stare him down again.

"Death Eater spies. They deserved far worse than the…" There was no way I would make this easy on her.

Trying her best to ignore me she continued on. "For the crimes of willingly killing muggles."

"Fools who let Voldemort control them. They didn't deserve any better."

She already seemed flustered and when I spoke, for one brief moment I saw someone else appear before me. There was something strange about her, more than her determination that filled her. She knew me somehow.

"For killing Aurors and other helpless victims of the Dark Lord."

Her voice brought back the reality of the moment. "No longer helpless," I muttered. Enjoying the game we were playing. I hadn't had anyone else to play with in quite a long time. "…and Aurors who were foolish enough to be captured."

"Just as you were." She replied calmly.

Now I had the upper hand and wasn't going to give it up. "Aurors who were easily broken. Aurors who gave up their secrets. I freed them. I took their pain and suffering away and loosed the bounds of life which held them. Just as I have been forced to do to others."

When I focused on her again I saw a different person. She had been playing games, just as I had assumed, but something about what I had said made her different. "I never gave them what they wanted."

"You did." She said, her voice taking a different tone. "Had you not, you would not be here today."

The way she spoke… she was hinting at something and I did not understand. I took the moment to stare into her eyes again and I saw something that was buried deep. The corners of my lips turned up just slightly as she fumbled for her words, unable to think under my stare.

Another voice continued what she was saying, by far the weakest man in the room. He barely registered at all when I'd felt the others. Apparently he was a Ministry Official. "Harry Potter, your sentence for the above crimes and others not yet mentioned is death."

I laughed. It was deep and hearty because my voice had returned to its usual self. The others in the room stared at me confused. "A _squib_ comes to give me my sentence?" I laughed again while the man trembled in rage, turning dark shades of red. The other Aurors looked between each other, somehow awed by the thing I had understood so quickly.

While they muttered I decided how to best escape and took the initiative to do so. I was very interested in the woman, but I could find her at any time, and do it somewhere that was much safer for me. "Harry Potter is dead friends. He died a long time ago in a battle like none you've ever seen. He died a hero. I am no more Harry Potter than you are Voldemort.

Whether it was that they had become even more afraid, or they thought me insane, they raised their wands to strike me down. Everyone, except the ministry official and the woman who stood in front of me. She stood motionless, returning the smile I had showed her moments before.

The official nodded his head. "Good," he said, sounding as confident as possible, but still deeply colored from the anger. "Then this shall be much easier than was previously anticipated."

I took the moment to smile brightly again, and then, I disappeared.

The confusion I caused only lasted a moment, but enough time to move out of the path of wands which _had_ been pointed at me. When they cast their spells I was not on the receiving end of them. I found myself hiding behind the woman, if she was here for any other reason than what it appeared then I wanted to know. Even if she wasn't she would make a good shield should they find me.

Her strength was now far superior to any others in the room. Though I wasn't sure why I had taken less of her magic than the that of the other wizards.

"He apparated." She said softly, then held out a strange object that was blinking red. I'd seen something like it before, during my training to be what I'd become.

"Andrews! Did I not tell you to strengthen the apparition wards in this room?"

One of the Aurors groaned and started to claim he had but she would not let him. She was in command again. "I want to know where he went. NOW!" She roared, it was apparent that she was in charge. Every member exited the room except the ministry official and the man who was guarding him.

The man who had given me the sentence of death looked around, scared. "You will find him, will you not?"

The urge to spill his blood started to surge through me.

He really was a weakling, as much of the government was. I despised him and I wanted to rid myself of his presence. Forcefully I suppressed the urge. There was something far more complex going on, something I wanted to know of more than I wanted to kill the man.

"I will determine how the prisoner escaped and track him down myself. The whole team will be assigned to him and as you know we've never failed."

Trembling, the man nodded and covered his fear with a smile. "Alright. We'll leave you to your work then. Please don't take long. We can't have someone like that wandering through the community. It'll be just like… _him_ returning."

When they had gone I found myself alone with the woman. I knew she knew I had not gone and I wondered why she had done such a thing. My mind began working again as it had been trained, I started to see and feel more. The room was pale white, nothing distinguishable about it, a single exit that disappeared into the wall when the door was closed. My box was in the air, held by magic. No windows or any other distinguishable features, it was another box.

There was something else that my mind discovered.

The woman.

She was young, maybe a year or two older than me, and very desirable. Even if I hadn't been in a cell away from the pleasures of life I would have found her very attractive. Now I found it hard not to touch her, especially when I was standing this close.

"You can do it if you'd like." She whispered and closed her eyes, waiting for something.

Quickly I suppressed my feelings and moved away from her, into the shadows of the room. There was a light coming from what had to be a hidden window and I stood directly below it, where there was no light. "You're very attractive you know." I said haughtily, being careful not to loose my voice.

If she had been surprised, which I doubted very much, she hid it very well. "That's not saying much from a man who hasn't seen a woman in three years."

She knew exactly where I was in the room, even had I not spoken. I decided that I would let her see me, she had deserved at least that.

"You'd still attract woman even in your state. You're not the most unpleasant man I've ever met."

She was flirting with me.

I didn't feel the overwhelming need, not yet, I was still far from escape. I had to be in some place where it would be difficult to escape.

"This trap was made for Voldemort himself. It no longer had a use when you defeated him and so it sat awaiting another occupant. It's sad that they had to use such a thing on you, it's a waste of space."

The woman moved towards me invitingly and I shivered. "Why was it you felt that you should help me to escape?"

"You've yet to escape."

Her comments were snide, but not at all rude. She was truthful, I hadn't escaped yet, I didn't even know where I was. I drifted from the shadows. She was playing games with me and I wanted straight answers. I did not feel the need to fool around when my escape was so close.

"Debt. I owe you a great debt, I am here to pay that debt and possibly gain a friend."

"Friend?" I asked before thinking. I had no friends, they had died and abandoned me. That was all they ever did, caused pain. I had no need for friends.

The woman pulled off her cape and unbuttoned the first few buttons of the blouse she wore. I watched interested. In the nape of her neck, just above the collar bone was a long thin scar that stretched from one side of the neck to the other.

Someone had slit her throat at one time, and it didn't look is if they'd done a good job. I'd seen enough of that sort of thing that it didn't occur to me she was trying to show me something important. She had survived the wound, which meant she was very lucky.

"When I was young, nearly ten, I was kidnapped by Voldemort."

She said his name again, not an ounce of fear in her. I admired her for being strong and I conceded to hear what she had to say while I made plans to escape her as well.

"My family was very influential in the magical community and he wanted them to help him. He also wanted me for reasons I still do not fully understand. Voldemort approached me after I had been stolen away from my family and told me that I could be a great person, that many things were in store for me." She added calmly while buttoning up her blouse and putting back on her cape.

"For you time has passed slowly, much different than the outside world. I said before that this place was designed to contain Voldemort. It has two extremely useful properties. When it was first created it was designed for one specific purpose to block magic, inside and out. Nothing could enter, no magic could leave. There were a few things that were allowed to insure the captive was kept alive, but very little magic could enter or exit. You no doubt felt the effects." She smiled wryly.

Yes. That was part of the reason I had never tried escaping from the box, I had no magic to use. When they'd come it was the first time I'd felt my magic since almost the beginning. It was no wonder that they'd used the box for me. They were afraid of me, tremendously so.

"The second feature was used because we needed to be able to monitor you easily. Time was slowed down within the box. You were twenty-one when you entered into it, and now you are twenty-two. I was almost thirteen, but now I am nearly twenty-four. Many things have changed since your time."

Eleven years had passed in the box, thirteen years in all.

Had someone told me this other than her, I would not have believe them. So much time had gone by that I couldn't comprehend the things that would be different. People I knew would have grown older, had children of their own, and their children might even be going to Hogwarts.

"Even at such a young age I was well aware of whom Voldemort was. Being a single child I was also quite strong willed and I refused to join him when he asked. I even went as far as spitting in his face. He was not at all happy about it and had me tortured then eventually killed. Fate seemed to have something else in mind, because only a short time after it happened a handsome hero with dark hair and green eyes came to my rescue. He brought me back, giving me life again. It was quite remarkable."

It was then that I recalled what she was talking about. Aja Stark. She'd been taken captive and her parents were threatened. A mission that I was going on had been changed to include her rescue. It was my first real battle with Voldemort.

He was not there, but I found her, killed only moments before by a man I despised. When I looked down at her I saw Cho Chang, she had been in a similar position when she had died. The thoughts were too much and I did something that was quite illegal, something that I had been forbidden to do.

My puppeteer had taught me many things to insure my triumph in the battle against Voldemort. He forced me to learn things that were disgusting, he taught me things that were difficult. He taught me every bit of forbidden magic he knew. There was a great deal of things I learned from him.

I used that magic, breathing life into her again. It was difficult, and had sapped me of a great deal of magic. It only worked because she had not been gone for long. But it did work, she did live. Her family was overjoyed and thanked me for returning her safely. I never spoke to anyone of what I had done.

"Aja." I whispered.

When I spoke her name her face lit up brightly. She was overjoyed I remembered who she was.

"After I was brought back I started seeing things. I dreamed strange dreams. They weren't so bad at first, fighting mostly and lots of it, love too, but it was very rare. But then I started to feel tortured in my dreams. I had no idea what it was I was feeling but it was horrible. I understand it now, that when you brought me back you connected us. I saw things that were unimaginable to most wizards I've ever met. My parents thought it was because of the things that had happened while I was captive."

Slowly she stepped forward. Now she was unbalanced, revealing things she'd likely never told anyone. "When I was younger and had constant visions of Voldemort I had a difficult time revealing them to anyone."

I too had felt like that even too my closest friend many time. Hermione, she'd always been concerned and it helped. Ron, _when_ he was my friend he was always worried, but it didn't seem that his concern last long.

"I started to find out other things about myself. I had abilities that were very unusual, things that few people have ever been able to do. It took some time, but by the end of the first year I knew why. I made a promise that I'd be the best. I excelled in everything and pushed myself to the limits. By the end of the fifth year I had surpassed even the seventh year students in knowledge."

"Even the hardest things came easily. I shared knowledge with you somehow. When I tried things you'd done it was as if I'd once known them, a very long time ago and I only had to remind myself of them. Even before I graduated I was offered a job at the ministry. There I easily moved through the politics and became a special Auror."

"It was then I finally found out where you were. It took a great deal of work to make sure that you were given the opportunity to escape. I know everything you've ever done, I studied the recordings of you escapes in Azkaban, I saw what no one else saw. Given even the slightest of chances and enough power to sap you'd easily escape."

She knew.

Was it possible that everything she was saying was truthful? In my life similar things had happened. Though, for me I had been so young that I never remembered anything form then so I'd likely forgotten all of the memories.

"It doesn't matter now. You can transform into something small, can't you?"

Slowly I nodded, still at odds with myself whether I should trust her. "How small?"

"As small as possible. If I am going to set you free I have to transport you in this." From within her blouse she pulled out a necklace with a tiny amulet. "The barriers to stop you from escaping are complex. The most complex thing I've ever come across. It took a great deal of research to find a way around them. I did find a way and so now I am giving you an option. You can trust me and hide within this charm or you can fight your way through the ranks. You will likely win against the Aurors, but even if you do this place will be sent to a place where there is no escape."

"A place of no escape…" I mumbled. The box I had been secluded too was very much like that for me.

What she was asking was difficult. I had no way of knowing what it was that the charm would do. It was difficult to imagine returning to the cube after being released. "Alright." I finally said, sighing slowly. "I'll do it. Something small?"

It took a great deal of concentration to do it, I thought of the smallest thing I could imagine and then pictured it in my mind. When I opened my eyes again the woman who I'd stood in front of was huge.

She bent down and placed her finger down next to me. Even her finger was gargantuan. It took great effort to even get as high as the top of her finger.

She swept me up quickly and a huge red object was placed next to me. The charm on her necklace had opened up. I crawled in and I was jostled again, then enclosed in the tiny charm.

A second later it opened up and was sat down on something, leaving an opening. I spent several minutes trying to decide what exactly I would do. After a long time I finally walked, or the closest thing to, out of the charm to see why we had stopped.

The room I had been in was gone, instead it was replaced by a huge, luxurious room.

The change back was not so difficult. It was rather fluid, and came much easier than the original change. It was then I discovered the clothing I was in was little more than rags. Tatters might be a better word to describe it. I was standing in an elegantly designed room wearing clothing that I had had on for more than a year.

Aja saw my concern. I hadn't even noticed her, she seemed to appear not long after I changed back. "There's clothing in the closet for you and the bathrooms free." She offered politely. I relaxed, feeling a bit like I had when I had lived with my aunt and uncle. Stupid Muggles, and the worst sort. They hated magic because they did not understand it, and they did not understand it because they did not _want_ to understand it. They had died a long time ago, but I did not grieve their death.

The shower was the most delightful pleasure I had undergone in an extremely long time. It had been so long since I'd taken anything resembling a shower that it was as if I were washing away my former life. Soft robes were waiting for me when I left the shower, they were wonderful to touch and felt even better when I put them on.

It was good to be alive again.

•


	3. Persecutus

Chapter 03

• Persecutus •

"You'll need a new name." Aja said as I admired the clothing she had provided me. Once again, she'd walked into the room completely unnoticed. "…and a new face. You were right when you said Harry Potter is dead."

"Then what shall I call myself?" I questioned her. I already knew myself by another name. I was dark inside and I had chosen a new name to call myself to reflect that inner person.

She smiled, delighted that I had asked her. It was odd that she was like that, every time I looked at her I could see some of Hermione, yet they were not related and had likely never met.

"Persecutus, the name that you gave yourself in that hell. It's the thing that you are."

All her mannerisms led me towards an avenue that I was careful to follow. I had an ally and I was not sure how I should go about reacting to her when she made moves on me like that. She knew who I was, and she knew what I would respond to, I knew it the moment she drug her finger along my neck.

"You're playing with fire woman." I said throatily, all the time trying to keep myself in check. I owed her many things and did not want to violate her trust, no matter what had been done to me.

The words did not bother her. In fact they almost intensified the situation. She moved even closer, wrapping her arm around me and touching me lightly, sending shivers up my spine. "I like fire." She whispered just before her mouth closed around mine.

That was it; I couldn't stand another moment of it. I turned her roughly and pushed her onto the bed, kissing and touching her without the slightest bit of hindrance.

She purred like a wildcat.

"That's been something I've been wanting to do since I started seeing you with other woman." Aja said while I looked at myself in the mirror. A quick blink and my eyes changed color, turning from jade green to dark grey. The scar which had adorned my forehead melted away with a mere thought and a few movements of my hand and my face was different altogether. No one could recognize me now, that was a risk I wasn't prepared to take yet.

"You don't have to worry." Aja said as she moved up behind me.

No longer feeling the need to have her, I felt much more comfortable when she wrapped her arms around my stomach. "I sent the force into the Alps. They'll be busy tracking remnant magic for a month and then they'll be going to Hogwarts to find your body in the forbidden forest, horrible mauled by a werewolf. You're safe here, no one will know."

"The elves and other servants already know I have a visitor from the east, you're a friend from childhood, who's been living in the states for the past several years. You knew me at Hogwarts for the first two years before moving away. Though we haven't kept good contact we still remain good friends to this day. Understand?" She said casually as she pulled on a dress.

I lay back down in the bed, sighing in relief and closing my eyes. I was starting to feel too comfortable and was having trouble making a decision about what I wanted to do.

Aja turned around, and I could see a longing look on her face. She suddenly reminded me of Hermione and I had to brush away the thought. "When I was young and they told me you'd died I was crestfallen. But I started to understand that you hadn't, that they were lying to me, to everyone. Voldemort did that to me, he made promises that he didn't keep and he told me things I knew were lies. I don't like the ministry. So, the whole time I was at Hogwarts I worked hard, trying to find you somehow, trying to help find the place you were in. I dreamed about it all the time. Sometimes I would wake up and think I was there with you, keeping you company. You're the only one who can understand me… and I think I'm the only one who can understand you. I wanted to find you for so long, I wanted to free you, I wanted to be a part of your life."

"They fell for everything. It was easy to move through the ranks and become a perfect Auror. It did take time, and a lot of manipulation, but eventually I was able to create a special Auror division in the Department of Mysteries. I can feel people, just like you can and I picked out people that were strong, people I could use for my own purposes. The only people who know about you were a few high level ministry officials and the team who was in charge of your confinement. The men that you met today were the same men who were to keep you forever confined. I have been working and plotting this day for years now, trying to insure that you would be able to get away. Even though you didn't know of it I knew what you would do and I planned everything accordingly."

Reaching down she slipped on some shoes and stood back up, twirling and looking at herself in the mirror. "I have guests to take care of, you can come down when you're ready, but please put on something that is suitable for a formal party. I want you to be yourself, take your revenge, but for tonight everything is put on hold."

She put her hand on the door and then stopped, picking something off the desk and throwing it to me. "Don't forget your necklace; it'll keep you from being spotted should you use magic."

Cautiously I looked over the necklace, it looked like nothing special, a braided dragon hide necklace with a few small metal beads and a pendant on it, there was a feel to it though and I pulled apart the clasp and sealed it around my neck. Aja was a friend and for now I would trust her, as best as I could trust someone.

I examined myself in the mirror again, trying to remember how I should look for a formal party. I hadn't been to one in such a long time that I couldn't be sure. I did know one thing, the beard that had grown had to go I had trimmed it shorter before the shower, but now I was sure I didn't want to keep it.

With a few blinks, the hair on my cheeks died and I brushed it away until I saw myself as a perfect imitation of a long forgotten headmaster of Hogwarts. I never forgot anyone, and I'd had a conversation with him once while hiding from Filch in a closet. He had been moved because of a redecoration and then forgotten. It wasn't to his dissatisfaction though, he seemed he rather enjoyed the dark room.

Dressing in the clothing felt odd. The clothing fit me perfectly, no magic at all, and I smiled inside. Aja had planned more than just my escape. She was mine too; there was no doubt about it.

Clearing my throat I found that my voice has suddenly changed and I just shook my head and opened the door, starting down the hall. A young elf stood waiting me and his face grew so bright that I almost felt as if I should turn away.

"Master Ha…" he paused briefly and dropped his head almost reverently."…Persecutus, This elf is Bobby sir, Bobby's father, he was a great admirer of yours. He always talked about you and he is always saying you is a great wizard. When the people say you gone he know you isn't. He hear many things, he find out master is still alive. He finds Mistress Aja is wanting to help too and he goes with her when she leaves school. When Bobby is born he is told over and over of masters greatness."

"Dobby?" I asked, surprised that he was still alive. "Your father is Dobby, isn't he?"

Bobby nodded so furiously that it looked as if his head might fall off. "He is saying you would remember him. He is always saying these things."

Dobby, I remembered him well. He'd showed up at the oddest times, yes, but in the last three years of my life he'd saved it as well, several times. The puppeteer had often used him to keep me alive as I followed my path. I thought he'd died before I was captured, and it was a surprise that he had lived. The question that flowed through my mind cut off almost all other thought. "He's alive? Can I see him?"

Immediately after my outburst I restrained myself. It had been years, I could wait longer if necessary.

"He is waiting for you master. He is waiting for you for a long time now. Bobby thinks that is the only thing he is waiting for." Bobby said, slightly disheartened. "The mistress is telling Bobby he must take master to the party and master can retire early, when dinner is over. She is wanting to make sure you are introduced to her guests."

Whatever Aja had planned for she was fully aware of what would go on and had planned ahead. I reluctantly followed the smartly dressed Bobby down the hallway. He kept glancing back, as if to make sure I was really there, but eventually it wore off and he straightened up. The moment before I walked into the room Bobby disappeared ahead of me. I hear my name called out and I opened up the door. "Lord Persecutus, Heir to the Seventh Naln of Ernon, member of the Elite Guild of Nostradamus, and guest of the esteemed Lady Stark." The caller finished his introduction and several people clapped lightly. Most of them stared at me, uncertain of what to make of the man that was standing in front of them.

It didn't bother me anyway who looked at me, I was free and should they dare do something to offend me I would show them my true nature. For now I could restrain myself. As I stepped heavily down the stairs I wondered of that Naln of Ernon was, I'd never heard of it and was interested to know if such a thing existed.

"Good." Aja whispered as she came up behind me, never making a sound. She was more than just graceful, it was a deadly superiority that any duelist worth his salts would see right away. "You did come, I was worried that perhaps you would have decided to do something other than what I would've liked."

"I do whatever I feel is necessary." I said heavily, looking at the table beyond. The food was already tingling my nostrils and I discovered that I now had an insatiable need for food. "Creating a new life takes effort. It seems you've already created one for me," I continued, smiling to the crowd who was looking at me revered. "Lord? What brought that title?"

"Here you must have a name, it is as important as gold to them. You'll learn that every thing you do is important in the world of the nobles of the wizarding world. You've not been here before. But, with an introduction like that, no one will be ignorant of you anymore," she whispered, taking my arm into hers. "Now, follow me. We will sit and eat and then you may retire. It is only necessary for you to spend a few minutes with me. You could stay longer if you'd like."

"Not tonight. There are things… things I still must overcome," I said quietly. Then turning I smiled lightly to the people who'd already surrounded the table, waiting for the signal to seat themselves.

Aja seemed disappointed but nodded her head. "That is something I understand, I have many of the same memories you do. Just be careful, as powerful as you are it is still possible that… history will repeat itself."

I nodded, grimacing. My mother, holding me as such a precious thing had doomed my life forever. It was because of her stupid efforts to keep me alive that so many things had happened, good and bad in this world. It was why I was here now, and why I'd lost so much. I refused to allow her to control me any further, no one would.

•


	4. Revelations

Chapter 04

• Revelations •

A name.

That's all it was. But as it echoed through the room my mind filled with rage.

I knew the name well.

The thirst for vengeance filled my bosom.

Vengeance. The one word that I could think of bristled in my mind. I stepped into the shadows across the room, forgetting that only a moment ago I had been leaving. In the dark, where I felt more comfortable I fingered my wand. Of course, I could do it without my wand but I did not want to drain myself so quickly.

The caller listed off his titles as, a short time ago, mine had been. _Order of Merlin, third class._ _Member of the_ _Wizengamot_.

I laughed in my head. Somehow, even though he'd been instrumental in my capture he'd managed to escape and retain his family name. Of course I knew the truth. Money had changed hands, that's the way things were. A light that illuminated the stairwell I was on shattered, and was extinguished as I watched him enter the room. Luckily I was high enough that no one noticed as it went dark around me.

Aja was handing him to me. I laughed silently to myself. Oh, whatever had happened to her she had truly become devious. "… and wife, Ginerva Malfoy."

Though I had been ignoring her my eyes surveyed the woman he'd walked in with and I gasped. The air around my thickened and I felt as if it were choking me, crushing me with an immense pressure. I stabilized myself on the rail to the side and calmed the feelings that were raging inside.

Had so much changed that _she_ would be with _him_? Sirius had once said if any family were a bunch of pureblood traitors the Weasley's would be them. Why would Malfoy, so caught up in the superiority of his blood even think of marrying her?

She walked alongside, a smile plastered on her face, a smile I recognized so well. So much had changed since I'd known her, since the schoolgirl crush had disappeared. She'd stood alongside me countless times and even pledged her undying love to me the last time I'd spoken to her.

I remembered the incident oh so well. Who, when left only to their memories, could not remember?

She'd left not long after I rescued Aja. I was going on a mission and she kissed my cheek as tears trickled down her face, telling me that she'd love me forever. The smile she had on her face was the same she had tonight, false. It was the same smile she used every time I left, when she could not force herself to beg me to stay.

When I returned she was gone, leaving nothing. It was as if she'd never existed. In my rage and grief I'd destroyed the flat I was living in much to the dismay of my attendant. I ripped through the apartment searching for a note, but found none. I apparated to the Weasley home, and yet no one had known where she'd gone.

It took some time reflecting upon my thoughts to understand what had happened and why. In our time together, more than half a year, she'd grown to know me even better than I knew myself. She grew to love me even more than before. I loved her too, to an extent, and at the time I thought that might be the best I'd ever get. That time that we spent together was precious to me, but she knew the truth, where my true happiness lay.

It was her leaving me that had finally made it happen, whether she planned it or not. Hermione, at the time still a friend, had come to comfort me. It took a month for me to digest it, but Hermione had loved me all along and I discovered that a few weeks after Ginny had gone. I don't know when it started, she never confided that in me. It was enough to know that I loved her and she loved me.

Ginny glanced up, smiling to the crowd as she descended the stairs.

In the darkness a tear fell from my eye. I hadn't forgotten her, but she had been out of my life I assumed. The smile, a sham as always, showed that her life was not as happy as it should be. Her once sparkling eyes had lost their brilliance and though she looked as stunning as ever, it was not the woman I'd once known.

Something inside, something I'd thought long dead, tingled. There was a warm feeling in the depths of the blackness that was my life. Perhaps it was my heart, the one I thought I'd lost so long ago.

I stared at her, amazed that I still carried feelings of this sort. But then, she was my first lover, and she'd always have a place in my heart. My feet stayed rooted to their position and she descended the stairs and glided across the floor, sitting in the spot next to Aja, only one seat away from mine.

A growl escaped my lips before I could control the anger.

Aja knew. Oh, whatever it was that she'd been planning angered me. She'd sat me there on purpose, and invited Ginny and Malfoy on purpose. Perhaps she was trying to evoke a reaction. I could see from her glance that she had decided to see if I was still there. But her eyes, searching the steps and the platform above, could not see me in the blackness.

Then, deciding I was gone, she turned to Ginny, speaking in whispers and with a smile. They seemed to be friends. For several minutes I stood there, watching, trying to decide what I should do with the platinum haired man who cause me such emotions.

Then, Malfoy stood, but still I could not move. I felt the need to kill him then, before my chance was up. I recalled him coming to me after a particularly harsh beating and series of Cruciatus curses. He'd sneered at me and mocked my plight. Oh, how I would like to show him the sort of pain I felt that night.

The first step he took on the stairs snapped my thoughts back into place. My hand slipped into my pocket, however unnecessary it was, it felt good to hold a wand and I still sought to find it. My wand had been broken long ago, parts of it were still lodged in my hand as a testament to how it was broken.

He approached, not knowing what danger lay in the darkness. By the look on his face he seemed to be bored, even fed up. As he finally ascended to my level I was hard pressed not to kill him that very instant. Then something occurred to me. This life was handed to me on a platter and I had a real name, I existed and was not being chased by the ministry.

So, I decided to hold my own, leave him be for now. He'd die, I was sure of that, but I would wait until the time come. Patience was something I had learned sitting in the box.

"These things are dreadful aren't they?" Draco spoke unexpectedly. He seemed to feel that I was something like him. A deep growl began to climb my throat but I suppressed it this time, not wanting to reveal the mood I was in. I tried to ignore him, hoping he'd disappear.

I smiled cruelly, thinking of what would happen if I did exactly that, made him disappear. Permanently. He'd be there, but no one save mad eye moody (if he was still alive) would be able to see him.

Somehow Malfoy took that as a sign of acceptance and smiled back. "Utterly," I answered in a dismissive voice. It seemed off, but taking a look at myself I was suddenly reminded of Severus Snape.

"Draco… Malfoy," Draco said, offering me his hand.

I sneered at the offering but he could barely see in the dark. I, on the other hand, having been in darkness for the last three years, was quite used to it. An inkling of what I could do to him over time calmed me. I would destroy the man from the inside. Starting with his money. After his wife, his life and he was groveling at my feet I would destroy his status. Then, I would reveal myself to him, break him one last time. He would be frozen in a permanent state, that moment when his worst fears were to come true, as if a dementor were tormenting him eternally.

"Persecutus," I said smiling. The lamp light behind me flickered on and I extended my hand to his.

His magic, however powerful it was, was gone the very moment I touched him. He wouldn't feel it for a while, but the next time he tried to do magic I doubted it would work.

"That's quite a trick," Malfoy said laughing lightly. "But after the way Aja has spoken of you I would expect nothing less."

I smiled even wider, making it seem as if I enjoyed the compliment. I was good at false expressions. I'd learned them in school and they never failed me. "Oh, that's a simple little trick, I'm sure I could do something much more complex." I paused and looked down at the table. Flicking my hand two bottles of Firewhisky disappeared from the table and reappeared in my hands.

"Here," I said, offering on to him.

Draco's mouth dropped and he stared at me. "You haven't got a wand," he said stupidly, no longer trying to maintain the essence of superiority.

I paused, waiting for him to take my bottle. When he finally did take it the cap of mine disappeared and I held it to my mouth, draining it quickly. My throat burned for several quiet minutes while Draco drank his as well. I had rarely had such drinks, as my first experience hadn't been the best, but it was something I wanted to try again.

"Your wife," I said motioning towards Ginny, "is quite beautiful."

At first Draco didn't say anything. I took a chance and glanced over to him and his reaction seemed triumphant. "Yes," he finally spoke, and I could tell he felt like gloating. "She took a great deal of work, but I finally got her to marry me. Though, sometimes…" he paused and grimaced, "her family makes things hard."

"Oh?" I said, interested. Closing my eyes, I focused on a spell and shoved it into him. He wouldn't have any problem tell me now.

Malfoy smiled again, covering up whatever feelings that had been surfacing. "Yes, she hasn't spoken to most of them in years, but I think that's part of the problem. A long time ago she left them, went to the states it seems, well she didn't come back for quite some time and when she did, well, she had a child."

I blinked. Ginny wasn't just someone that would come back with a child and no father. Then the terrible possibility filled me. "And how old is he?" I asked smoothly.

"She. And she's just a bit over 14 now. She refuses to accept me as a father though and I feel like… well…" he stumbled over himself and seemed slightly confused. The spell I had used didn't seem to be strong enough and so I cast it again, along with a second, needing to hear everything. I calculated everything in my head and found it hard to refute the evidence.

I had a daughter.

Had she known though? Before? I tried to blink away a tear that started to roll down my cheek, but it wouldn't go away. Luckily Malfoy was concentrating on something and failed to see it.

"What's she like?" I asked softly.

"Rebellious," he answered with a smirk. "She refuses to accept any authority and runs around with Harry Longbottom. I swear those two are the worst kids in Hogwarts history. I've pulled her out of more trouble in a single year than I got into over the seven years I attended. She doesn't seem to respect the any of the teachers, including the headmaster."

Longbottom. I remembered Neville, but I thought he'd died. He hadn't ever stopped learning and had trained with my a good deal. We had fought more than a few battles side by side. But in the foray where I'd been captured… I saw him get struck down. I could do nothing about it at the time, but I could have sworn that he'd died.

"Dumbledore?" I questioned Draco, wondering if he was still the headmaster.

"Yes, do you know him?" Draco asked, slightly surprised.

I didn't answer immediately however, my mind was filling in the blanks. "One more question. Do you know who the father is?"

Immediately Draco shook his head. "She never said, though I suspect it was someone she met in the states. I don't think he died, and I can't be sure. Sometimes I wonder if she even knows," he said, motioning towards Ginny.

I knew she knew, and she'd hidden it from him. But did my daughter know?

"What's her name?" I inquired as I prepared myself to cast yet another spell on him.

"Jasmine. I don't know what sort of name that is, naming a girl after a season. She calls herself Jay though."

"I see," I said smiling and then casting the memory charm on him. He wouldn't remember exactly what we spoke of, but I filled in some of the feelings, he'd like me as a close friend now."

Taking one last glance down to the table where Ginny was talking animatedly I turned to Draco who was blinking and staring at me. "Well, it was nice talking to you Draco. I'd love to be invited over sometime so I we could talk so more and perhaps meet Jasmine. As for now I have some business to attend to, so if you'll excuse me."

"She's here somewhere," and I stopped dead in my tracks. My urge to see her grew stronger. I wanted to see what sort of daughter I had. "I suppose she's off playing with the elves, she seems to like them more than people."

Shaking my head and laughing I continued out of the room. But, the moment I had stepped out of the door my laughter died. "Bobby," I said calmly then repeated myself. Instantly there was a little elf standing next to me.

"I'm ready to see Dobby now," I said calmly. Bobby squeaked and nodded quickly, moving quickly down the halls. I had a bit of difficulty keeping up with him, my muscles, though strong were still rather malnourished. At the end of the hall he turned and waited for me to catch up. When I did he turned to the wall and pushed on it with both hands until the wall just disappeared. He headed straight into the room and I continued after him.

The hall was dark, but as I stepped into the room beyond it was lighter. A girl with bright blue hair was stooped over a cauldron. Bobby squeaked again and moved across the room extremely fast. "Jay is not suppose to be doing that ma'am. She is knowing this."

The blue hair flipped up as Jasmine turned to the exasperated elf with an evil smile. "Come on Bobby, it's nothing harmful. It'll just spice up the party a little."

"No, no, no." Bobby said, trying to be firm.

"It's alright Bobby," I said quietly from the doorway. "Let her put it in. If Aja gets mad tell her I did it."

Both of them turned to me, Jasmine looking surprised and furious and Bobby looking frustrated. "Go on Jasmine," I said quietly. "Dump it all in. I hope some of that's meant for your father."

"He's not my father," she spat at me, twisting her hand and dumping the whole vial into the food.

Smiling I took a seat beyond her, waiting for her to say something else. She was quickly becoming my favorite person I had met since escaping. "Who is?" I asked softly, staring directly into her eyes. She stared back defiantly, but it was a mistake.

"Harry Potter," she said and then paused. Three things happened in quick succession, her hands flew to her mouth as she started to say something else. Bobby squeaked and backed into the mop, causing it to fall over. And then, to top it all off another elf appeared in the far doorway.

"Master Harry Potter!" he said, moving to me faster than I would have thought his aged body could have moved.

With a flick of my hand everything paused. I could see the look of utter astonishment on Jasmine's face. Dobby was only inches from me, his face filled with bliss. I groaned. I loved the elf, but sometimes he was too eccentric. For a moment I thought to just modify Jasmine's memory, I wasn't quite prepared for her to know who I was yet. But then, I decided to wait to see how she reacted to it.

I stood, and prepared for the assault and then my hand twitched again. Dobby bowled into me, just like he'd done hundreds of times before. "Bobby is saying Mistress finally brought you back and Dobby sir, he is so happy."

I looked to Jasmine who didn't seem to have any words in her mouth. Her defiant words had been engulfed by emotion. "Dobby," I said quietly, not releasing my eyes from her Sapphire blue eyes. "Can you wait for just a minute? I have to talk to my daughter."

Dobby backed away and looked to Jasmine. He bowed slightly and stepped back again, finding a place against the wall. I could tell it was taking a great deal for him to suppress his emotions and I turned to him smiling. "It's good to see you Dobby, and thank you for everything you've done."

Then, I turned back to Jasmine. "Well?" I asked quietly finding my seat again. Life was crashing down on me so fast that I wasn't sure what to do, but I knew I would have to deal with it sooner or later.

"You're not Harry Potter!" she exclaimed when she finally found her voice.

Remembering that I was disguised I closed my eyes, concentrating for just a minute. My hair returned, as unruly as ever. When I opened my eyes they were Jade again. I pressed my hand to my forehead where my scar was and I could feel the searing pain as it reappeared. "I was named Harry Potter once," I said. "Until the ministry decided it was best to kill me."

She choked.

Not wanting to have anyone interrupt us I turned to Dobby. "Dobby, would you be so kind as to lock the entrance so that no one will interrupt us?"

Dobby nodded and scurried down the hallway, tears of happiness streaming from his eyes. When I turned to Jasmine again her eyes had changed color to the same green that I saw when I looked in the mirror. She blinked and they were blue again.

"You can't be…" she said, trying to deny what she was seeing. "My father… he's in a special cell where no one will ever be able to get to him."

My eyes widened surprised. "And how exactly did you know that?"

"I… Harry heard it from his father by accident last summer."

"Longbottom?" I asked, suppressing a smile as she seemed to be surprised this time. This was going to be great, each of us surprising the other more and more. She nodded and opened her mouth to make another denial attempt but I cut her off. "He was right, but it wasn't a cell, it was more like a box, a black box."

Continuing to keep eye contract I could tell that she was starting to believe me, a little. But there was something else she was thinking. I hadn't tried to probe another persons mind in a long time and so it took me a minute to figure it out. "Your mother is not to know this," I said quietly. "She never told me I had a daughter, she will have to wait to know that I've finally escaped."

Jasmine opened her mouth and closed it, surprised. She opened it again, but I was quickly getting better at reading her and I continued speaking. "If you'd like I shall submit to any tests you feel the need to place upon me. That is if you can guarantee you will not be telling anyone. Your mother has undoubtedly told you about many of my exploits, all of which I remember quite clearly."

"No," she whispered quietly, tears falling. "She never told me anything. I knew you were my father because… because I found her journal. I know why she was always making me change my eye color. She doesn't want anyone to know."

Trying to maintain control of the conversation I nodded. "Well, ask away. If you've read her journal then you certainly know more things than anyone else would."

"Who was the first person you killed?" she asked quickly.

I winced. There was more than one answer to that question. "Well, that depends. The first person who I killed was Voldemort, though he didn't really die. There were my parents as well. I didn't do it myself, but it was my fault they died… and Trelawney's. That stupid prophecy will haunt me forever. However, the first person I killed on purpose was… Narcissa. I couldn't help myself. She'd killed Sirius and though I couldn't make her feel the pain I wanted to put on her I still was able to end her life."

"And… and…" Jasmine paused, unable to continue as her eyes were watering so much now that she couldn't see. She began to sob and I looked at her, trying to decide if I should move towards her. I was her father, but she had only just met me for the first time. Apparently the one question was enough because she ran to me and threw her arms around me, crying freely.

Though I felt slightly perturbed by her emotions showing so clearly, I put my arms around her and held her tightly. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you," I whispered in her ear. "But I'm here now. I have some things to sort out but I won't be leaving you again."

It seemed to be the right thing to say. Whatever thing that had filled me for so many years before faded briefly. I wanted to have a daughter, I wanted to love someone. She continued to hold me for several minutes until her sobbing ceased and the previous spiteful face appeared as she pulled away.

"He did it didn't he?" she asked.

It took a moment for the answer to dawn on me. I had to probe her mind for it. "Yes, Draco did a lot of it to me. He'll pay, believe me."

"Now," I said pausing. "You have to swear you're not going to tell anyone or I'll wipe your mind and you won't remember. It's going to be magically binding so you no matter how hard you try you won't be able to tell anyone. You see, if the ministry discovers I'm a free man they'll be chasing me down like they did Voldemort. As for the questions, I suppose we can talk about them as much as you want. You just have to convince your parents that there's a good reason for you to stay here."

Slowly she nodded. "Alright, I swear."

The epiphany of it all overwhelmed me. "Master Persecutus sir," Bobby said, having somehow reappeared. I hadn't even noticed him leave. "Mistress is already having taken care of Jay staying. Madam Ginny is saying it is alright."

I smiled, somehow Aja seemed to be a step ahead of me no matter what I did.

"Let's go to my room." Jasmine said quickly. "Aja always let me have one a few years ago. Sometimes when I can't stay at home I come here."

I looked to Dobby who was fidgeting and I paused. "Can we wait a few minutes. Dobby hasn't seen me in a very long time and I have to thank him for everything he's done for me."

Jasmine glanced to Dobby and then back to me. "Alright," she said quietly. It'll give me a few minutes to think about everything. And maybe it's better if I have some time alone before we have a father-daughter talk," she said, seeming a bit snide again.

Laughing I nodded. "You know, you're a lot like my dad and Sirius. But nothing like me when I was young. You go and think about things. And change your hair, blue isn't your color."

One day I would find out exactly how much Aja knew about me.

•


	5. Potential

Chapter 05

• Potential •

Jasmine's room was an oddity in such a formal house. It was what I had once imagined I'd like my room to be like. Posters covered the wall, though not as Ron's had been. They were arranged neatly, and none of them clashed with the others.

The most predominate poster, the one that stood alone and shining brightly as you walked through the door, was of me. I winced as I saw a cheery smile on my face and my emerald green eyes sparkling brightly. The one poster I'd ever allowed to be created of me. I was alone at the time, and had just gained my first major victory over Voldemort. It was one of the last times I'd ever been happy. Pictures surrounded it, mostly pictures of me standing alone or conversing with others, but a few with Ron and Hermione in them. Looking at them made me angry again and I had to look away before I started the wall on fire.

The rest of the room was painted darkly, a glimmering purple color, it set the whole room in a dark mood and I rather liked it. Her bed was in the middle, the same sort of four-poster with hangings that I had slept in at Hogwarts and it was raised up a little making it seem like she was sleeping above everything. I wondered if Aja had arranged at least some of the room. All of the drawers were inset into the wall making the room seem even bigger and at the same time bare. It was odd that a room with so much could seem empty, but it was the truth.

On the far wall, concealed by the bed as I had stepped in, and right next to my poster, was a broom in a case and below it a box that I recognized for holding Quidditch gear. I had had a smaller one, but very similar. She was sitting on the carpeted floor, completely still, waiting for me to judge the room.

I looked down to her slightly surprised. "You play Quidditch?" I asked, startled, though somehow I shouldn't have been. It seemed that it ran through the family even my grandfather had played. She wasn't tall, nor was she short, but she was slender and now that I looked at her I knew she would make an excellent seeker.

"Of course," she said, a smile on her face. "I can't be letting such skills go to waste. The only reason Gryffindor is going to win the cup this year is because they finally have someone who'll let me play like I want to."

"You're going to win the Quidditch cup this year?" I asked excited, emotion was flooding over me as if a huge damn had broken. I hadn't felt true excitement since the last battle I'd had with Voldemort, the one before I was captured. The last time I had fought with him wasn't a battle in my mind, but rather a slaughter.

"Yeah," she said smirking. "There's only one game left and they'd have to beat us by four hundred points to win."

I felt slightly stunned, the Gryffindors must either have an excellent team, or the other teams were lousy. "And what about the house cup?" I wondered out loud, it was odd to have feelings like this again, but as surely as I thought I'd never feel it, pride welled up in me. I had a daughter who was a seeker, just like me, and a good one by the sounds of it.

She laughed lightly, and smirked. "Gryffindor hasn't won the house cup since I've been a member. In fact, this last year we made it a point to lose as many point as possible. Our cup can't keep points even for the few that try and get them."

I looked at her confused, the house cup was a great honor to receive, it always had been, why would Gryffindor purposefully lose it?

Seeing the concerned look on my face and taking it exactly how it was, she explained. "There are only four teachers at teaching who weren't Slytherin, or something like it at the schools they attended. We can't get many house-points anyway, so we had a meeting as Gryffindors and determined rather than to try and get house points we would try and lose as many as possible without getting kicked out of school. I think we have the record for longest time at zero house points now."

I sniggered wondering what McGonagall would think about that and wondering if she was still there.

"Aja suggested it," Jasmine added as an after thought.

Looking up slowly I tried to make my face appear as blank as possible. It was hard, she had done exactly what I would have done, made a suggestion that would infuriate the teachers to no end. "How long have you known Aja?" I asked as informal as possible, trying to find out how much time Aja had been planning things.

"Since before Mom even came back," Jasmine said. "She was visiting America and happened to meet mom. They became really good friends and Mom came back because Aja told her it was a good idea. She... also told me that my real dad was a famous person. That's why I stole mums diary to see who it was. I was only seven at the time, but Aja taught me a spell to copy it without mum knowing."

"She knows too, about you being my father, she and Harry are the only one's who know. I think uncle Fred and George do, but they never say anything about it they only tell me I'm really, really special."

"I thought your mother didn't speak to any of the family?" I asked a little surprised.

"She doesn't," Jasmine offered, shrugging, "Aja takes me there. As long as they don't talk to mum, she doesn't know, Aja is good at keeping secrets."

I smiled smugly, Jasmine had no idea at how good Aja was at keeping secrets. "Well do you talk to anyone else in the family?" I asked interested to see just how much of a role Aja was playing in Jasmine's life. It was becoming apparent that she was doing a lot, almost as if she'd taken on a role as a parent.

Nodding Jasmine smiled brightly, "Just Bill and Charlie usually. Sometimes grandmum if she'll see me, but I don't think she likes me very much. Percy doesn't like me at all."

"And Ron?" I inquired, trying to discover more about him.

The moment I mentioned his name Jasmine's face darkened. "Aja told me what he did," she said angrily. "If I ever meet him I don't think he'll like me at all because I'll make him suffer for hurting you."

It was apparent that Aja had been doing a very good job at keeping my daughter from the wrong influences and I was happy that she was like that. It still disturbed me a bit, the way she knew everything about me, how she could do anything I wanted without me even knowing beforehand. "He's already got a wound," I said, smiling. "He came to Azkaban once and I put a scar across his face."

"Really?" she asked, perking up. "Why didn't you just kill him?"

The way she asked made me stop for a minute. No matter how much I was prepared for I hadn't been ready for that, I didn't think Jasmine would just be so calm about it, killing her own uncle, killing anyone for that matter. Yet she stood before me calmly asking why I hadn't. Aja was certainly a wonderful person to mold my daughter so well.

Finally I laughed and waved my hand over her face. A memory washed through her mind and she saw it happen, felt my anger and pain, saw me tear right through the magical bars and touch him magically. When the memory was gone I thought I might have pressed it too far, given her too much too quick, but she just stood there dazed, so I waited.

It was then that I felt something touch me, and I realized what I had done. When I shared the memories I had shared my feelings, the release, the understanding. She had just come to understand it herself, she was changing right before my eyes. She opened her eyes again and they were blazing green like an emerald fire and I could feel her feeding off me, feeding off the whole house. I jumped forward and held her to me, giving her the energy she needed. When she was filled she looked at me and then hugged me tightly. "It's alright," she said, "we'll find him together."

While my energy had been significantly drained, I still felt a sort of energy welling up in me and I hugged her back, just letting our powers mingle. I wondered why Aja hadn't done this, it was more than just energizing it was like pleasure of a different sort, as the powers lapped against each other like an ocean touching land. It was calming and blissful.

Someone knocked on the door and I ignored it, holding Jasmine tightly to me. The door finally opened and Aja stepped in looking as elated as I must have looked at that moment. Her eyes burned with desire, and she walked towards me slowly without saying anything. When she was finally standing next to me she reached out tentatively to touch me almost as if she wasn't sure if she should or even could. There was a crackle as her hand approached mine as energy sparked between us.

It seemed to make her even hungrier and she touched me quickly, letting the power mingle with hers. It was different than with Jasmine, Aja was a part of me and it filled me to the point of ecstasy and then lept out from me finding other places to go to. Objects all over the house which had once been magical, but had lost it over the years, flared back to life. I could feel them all at once like hundreds of miniature storms. The guests, the few who had not left yet, felt it to like a chill running down their spine and felt me in a way they had never experienced – like a soft presence in the back of their minds.

It wasn't enough though, the power continued forward, crossing the boundaries of the house and into the animals beyond. The dogs in the kennels and the other magical creatures were touched, each expressing themselves in a different manner. Some of the animals that Aja kept on the land disturbed me, I wondered briefly how she'd gotten them.

The rust abated, and I found that all of us had collapsed upon each other on the floor in Jasmine's room.

Bobby was standing above me, I could feel him there, waiting. Gently I pushed Aja to the side and looked at his enlarged eyes. "The guests, they is gone sir," he spoke timidly, almost scared. "They is saying they all felt too well to stay inside and is wanting to thank the hostess for everything she is doing for them. Bobby and the other elves is feeling odd too, some is feeling... young again, and some is wanting to work harder. They is asking Bobby to thank you sir."

Jasmine opened her eyes next to me lazily, content. She didn't seem to care that Bobby was there, or maybe she wasn't even paying attention. She hummed an almost purring sound and wrapped her arms around me again, burying her head into my chest. She pulled away slowly and looked to bobby with a vague smile. "Did my father drink the soup Bobby?" she asked lethargically, a smile slowly spreading across her lips.

Bobby nodded and Jasmine sighed and then closed her eyes, "good" she whispered as she dozed off again.

The energy – whatever it had been – was like a flame burning inside me, but I was also worn out so much so that I was having trouble keeping my eyelids open, I just closed them after a minute and sighed. "You can go now Bobby, please close and lock the door behind you when you when you leave."

I didn't see Bobby nod, but I imagined he did and I heard him pad across the floor, closing the door behind him as he left. "That was the most wonderful thing I've ever experienced," Aja said behind me, and she curled up closer, spooning against me. "I had no idea that was possible."

I smiled inside, my mouth had quit even trying to work.

•

"Dad!" I heard someone say, cutting through my sleep. "Get up, let's go do something today before I have to go back home."

I opened my eyes slowly to find Jasmine dressed and sitting on her bed, staring at me. She looked positively perky, more than I could say for myself. Aja was still curled up against me tightly and her arm had slipped over my stomach during the night. I sat up slowly and she woke up beside me a lazy smile on her face. "Morning," I said as she looked up at me she just smiled a bit more and sighed, sitting up as slowly as I was.

"Come on," Jasmine moaned. "You're not _that_ old."

I grinned and looked over to her, "Actually technically I'm a lot older than I look."

"Yeah, the time thing," Jasmine said as I stood, "I know all about it how time around you was slower so they could monitor you easier. You're really only 22 or 23, just like you look."

"Something like that," I muttered. "So," I said looking over to her. "What is it that you want to do today?"

"Let's go to Diagon Alley, they've got a new broom I want to show you."

I suspected it wasn't that she was going to show me, rather she was going to ask me to buy it for her, I wasn't sure if I could at the moment but I didn't mind going anyway. Besides, I wanted to see how much the world had changed in 13 years.

After stretching a little Aja answered, "let us go change and then we'll go. We need to let your father see the world as it is right now before we go and start making changes."

It was absurd to think that I would like the world as it was but I didn't say anything. Neither did Jasmine though it didn't surprise me, Aja seemed to have done a good job with her.

Once Aja and I were in her room I pressed her up against the door of the bathroom and looked into her eyes. "How did you know about Jasmine?" I asked calmly. I hadn't even known and we seemed to share memories, or at least she shared mine, I didn't seem to remember anything of her past.

"I didn't at first," she replied in the same composed voice. "I sought Ginny Weasley because you had been lovers, I wanted to ask her about you in real life. It took a great deal of resources and time to find her, she was living as a muggle, rarely using magic at all. When I discovered she had a daughter and had not given the fathers name I suspected you as the father. It took some more research, but I decided that I was correct. I was only 16 at the time so Ginny found it easy to trust me. She had left her life behind at 17 and never really grew up much because she did not have any friends there – she related to me very well."

Pausing, Aja looked up, a sly smile on her face. "You're not angry with me, are you?" she asked silkily, putting her hand around my waist. "I tried to make sure she was raised like your daughter even though Ginny ended up marrying Draco once she'd returned. Even with all my council she still believed him still to be a good man and trusted him so I adjusted myself and have dealt with her new lover. It was the best I could do at the time, I hope you're not angry."

"Why didn't you just kill him then?" I asked, trying to not be angry. She had done the right thing, leaving him for me, but it hurt that Malfoy in some ways had as more of a right to be Jasmine's father than I did. Though, I would remedy that quick enough.

The kisses started on my collarbone and I pulled away, she didn't have to answer, but I didn't want to get sidetracked. It was hard enough as it was and my daughter was waiting for us.

"Shower..." I breathed and, grabbing the clothing I'd picked out, I disappeared into the bathroom. It was so difficult for me to control myself now, in part because Aja knew me as well as I knew myself, if not better, partly because I'd be in imprisoned only a few days before without the company of a woman for many years. However I now had a daughter and would not allow myself to loose myself around her.

The cold of the shower was enough to help me focus again. There were things to do today; among them was the trip to Diagon Alley and that came first.

Jasmine was talking to Bobby outside and looked up, smiling brightly. "Dobby is getting better," she said delighted. "Something about what we did last night made him better."

A smile was about all I produce, last night had been quite interesting, and it was something I would not forget nor ignore. It was pushed into the back of my mind at the moment, or had been until Jasmine brought it back up. If last night was making Dobby better than perhaps more had happened than I had first assumed. It would be something I would need to investigate, I had thought it only a magical high for all of those in the immediate area, somewhat like what had happened between the three of us, only muted. Now I wondered if the magic was used in a different manner by different beings.

Jasmine didn't seem to remember everything that happened, or at least she made no mention of it except that it was curing Dobby. I could feel her new power simmering just beneath the surface, a damn ready to be let loose. Soon she would need training, so that she could control herself, that was something that I noted. It had taken me a great deal of time to master my own power when it finally was brought forth, but I had no one to train me and I still doubted I had full control.

"There are some things you and I will have to do before you go to school, what happened last night..."

"... was amazing," Aja said from behind me. "And you must not speak of it to anyone, not even Harry. He'll figure it out soon enough, he's sharp as a tack, but just because you will soon developed new powers does not mean you must flaunt them, even with a mask on."

The phrase sounded odd, but Jasmine had a wide grin on her face. "We never finished up last night," she said with a smile that told her there was something else she wanted to tell me.

"Alright then," I said, "let's hear it."

"See, this one was my idea, but Aja helped me. In school you were the 'dream-team', you didn't play pranks or anything but you were still troublemakers and were well known for it, even now. There were of course 'The Marauders' and my uncles who are only called 'The Twins', so I figured Ronny and I could do something like that."

From within her pocket she pulled out a silver diamond shape and handed it to me. It glimmered strangely, and was warm, I noticed it was filled with magic and fit perfectly into me hand. A large 'H' that formed from a series of jesters hats was in the middle.

"We're the Harlequins," she explained, though the only thing I understood was that she had formed group of mischief makers. Dramatically, and in a jester-like manner. Her face changed first, her lips turning blue and her skin the blackest of blacks. The hair on her face came next, growing slightly and also turning a silky black. She grew taller by several inches and then, with a touch of her hand her right cheek was marred by a silver diamond. "Harry and I," she said, her blue lips turning into an evil smirk.

"We have been labeled the worst group of mischief makers since The Marauders and it's only our second year. I am Loki," she said with a rolling hand and a stately bow. "The master of shapes and mischief. Harry is Prometheus, the master of fire and cleverness. We have yet to be caught, even after sending a few Slytherins to St. Mungo's last year. Neither returned this year."

The reference to the Norse trickster deity Loki got a smile from me. Jasmine certainly fit the bill almost perfectly, she was a metamorph at least, though I wasn't yet sure about her changing into animals – after last night she probably could. It seemed she loved to defy everyone, craft and malicious, the name and personality matched well. I didn't know Harry yet, I did know he was not his father, he had to be far different if he was sharp as a tack as Aja had mentioned. They had thought the whole thing through well and I was sure that if he was named Prometheus there was a good reason, perhaps he had a certain affinity with fire.

Jasmine was silent, watching me, and when I grinned at her she smiled back and took my hand. It was like nothing else really mattered to her but me and my opinion. I wondered how Aja had done it, how she'd molded Jasmine so perfectly so dedicated to an absent father who knew nothing of her. I was more than pleased, I was elated and it was something I would never forget.

"I'm grateful that you felt the need to raise her properly," I said quietly into Aja's ear as Jasmine waved her hand again and she shrunk, taking on her former appearance. Aja squeezed my hand gently but said nothing.

At the bottom of the stairs there was an assembly waiting for us, Dobby standing at the head of it looking far different than he had the previous night. In fact, he looked very much like he had at Hogwarts and had a huge smile to match it.

"Master," he said, bowing so low that his nose touched the ground. I reached down to pull him back up and I found his large green eyes filled with tears and the moment he pulled up he threw his arms around me and started bawling loudly.

It was difficult to see him so emotional and I felt more emotions inside me. Coming out of the box had been such a change and it was odd that I'd had so many emotions in two days when I thought I'd never feel them again. Jasmine slipped her hand into mine from behind me and I could feel her crying softly. "We fixed him dad," she whispered. "Last night when you showed me... we fixed them all."

"It's alright Dobby," I said after he'd cried for a few minutes. "I'm glad I could help you after everything you've done for me. I never thought I'd be able to get close to repaying the debt I owe and this is the least I can do for someone so loyal to me."

There were seven other elves who were looking to Harry as if he were a god. He smiled as best as possible to them and he stood up as Dobby pulled away finally. "I hope you're happy here with me Dobby, things won't be so simple soon."

"Always Master," he said, tears still leaking down his eyes.

•

The trip to Hogsmeade took no time whatsoever, there was a huge fireplace set up to Floo in and though I despised using Floo powder it was much easier than walking. I still needed time to recuperate from the cell I'd been in and walking several miles wasn't going to make things better.

Coming shooting out of the fireplace I stood and brushed myself off as my daughter followed. Aja was giving orders after I left, at the moment I didn't care though; my mind was focusing on the strange déjà vu of coming to this place once more. At one time in my imprisonment I had actually thought I might never see the active crowds of witches and wizards scurrying around to get whatever it is they were looking for. But I was here again and the place was busier the ever. The town had grown in the time I'd spent in prison and there were happy faces all around scurrying about like mice. They didn't know that a predator was in their midst.

Once Aja had joined us she turned sharply and beckoned us to follow her. I didn't know where we were going, but I followed behind anyway, studying the people moving about. Jasmine bounced ahead full of energy and knowing exactly where we were going, it worried me but I stayed quiet.

"Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes," the sign proclaimed from the outside. I remembered it as Honeydukes and wondered where the sweats shop had gone to. I was a little angry that I'd been given no warning, but I was curious to know what the twins were up to.

"Good morning," a young woman said as we entered, smiling from the roof. "I'm a little hung up right now, but enjoy the store and let me know if I can help. Oh... Jasmine!" she said when she recognized my daughter. "Your uncles are both in the back waiting for you," she said immediately, dropping down from the ceiling.

She smiled at Jasmine and Aja and then gave me a piercing look which I easily matched. Her knees became week as she found she couldn't tear her eyes away from me and eventually she collapsed with a whimper. It didn't take much really, she wasn't that powerful and what little energy she had would come back in a few minutes. Aja slapped my arm as we headed into the back, glancing at the poor attendant. "Be careful about using your abilities so blatantly, you're liable to tip someone off," she whispered.

We moved through the back curtain and I saw that the twins had been spending their money wisely. The room was about ten times as large as it should be and there were all sorts of potions brewing along with half completed magic projects lying about. "We've got something for you!" Fred said cheerfully and pulled out a mask.

"You did it?" Jasmine asked excitedly and reached out to grab it. George and Fred both nodded simultaneously as she took it and slipped it on her face.

The clothing that Jasmine was wearing changed immediately to a black and silver diamond patterned body suit. "You did!" she exclaimed happily and hugged them both. I looked to Aja and she just smiled and nodded back. She took off the mask but nothing happened and Fred looked a little downcast. "Yeah, but we still need to figure out how to transfigure the clothing back once you take off the mask."

I laughed heartily as Jasmine gave them both a warning stare. The two hadn't changed a bit.

Fred and George looked up at me as if suddenly realizing that there were more people in the room. George stepped across the room quickly, offering me his hand. I took it and felt a slight shudder run through my whole body, there was something magical in his hands but I absorbed the magic and didn't show that it had affected me. "Hello," George said with a puzzled expression on his face. "I'm George Weasley, co-founder of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes where we provide tricks and mischief for the most wanton of customers."

"And I am Lord Persecutus," I said, bowing slightly as any nobleman would do.

The red-heads eyes widened almost excitedly. "You really exist," he said almost in awe. "After everything that Aja has told us about you we thought you might just be someone she made up in her imagination." Then, taking a step back he sized me up. "Is it really true that you can fly without a broom?"

I looked over to Aja startled and she just shrugged. Then, hoping to avoid any further badgering on the subject I took a deep breath and levitated myself off the ground. "It is true!" George said behind Fred. "You're a right genius to pull that off."

It wasn't really all the complicated if you knew what you were doing, just no one did know.

Jasmine was fiddling with her clothing, trying to change it back she could have if she knew what she was doing, but she had no practice. I flicked my hand and the harlequin costume she was wearing faded into the robes she'd been wearing when we entered the store. She smiled a thank you and the twin's mouths hung open like fish.

"A costume to better disguise yourself I assume?" I asked her as she examined the mask.

She nodded, "Harry and I have to transfigure our clothing every time before we make an appearance and if Harry's going to be there we have to change his appearance too. Uncles Gred and Forge," I glanced over at them as she spoke seeing their happy smile at the mention of their names, "have been working on things to make it quicker for us so that it's harder to discover who we are. I typically use black and silver clothing while Harry usually uses reds and yellows and blue sometimes. Some of the time I play a different person though so that they can't figure out how many of us there are. The most that has ever been seen together at once is three, but there's a dozen different descriptions of us, if not more. There are others too sometimes that want to help, but usually they can't stand the pranks after a while and they leave again. Only Harry and I know who everyone is."

"He knows about that?" Fred asked, astonished. "How long have you known him?"

"All my life," Jasmine said in a whisper so soft that only I heard it. Then smiled and looked up. "Long enough to trust him," she said in a normal voice. "He can help too maybe, I'm sure he'd love to see Hogwarts again and he'll be able to help us pull some good pranks."

"How are you going to do that?" George asked and I smiled. I knew exactly what my daughter was talking about. I whirled quickly and my face changed along with my clothing. When I was looking at them again my face was painted white and I was wearing a fool's costume and I looked like I was 16 years old.

"It's simple really. There's always a way into Hogwarts, isn't there?" I asked, smiling maliciously and glancing at the floor. In the cellar below I knew there was a passage that led to Hogwarts, all I had to do was make sure it was still usable. No one had ever discovered it other than those who'd known about it when I was still attending, and half of them that were alive were standing in the room. The look I got from the twins confirmed that that was probably at least one of the reasons that they'd set up shop here.

"Of course there is darling, it's why I bought the place," Aja said, startling me. Aja owned Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes? That was almost too much, it was as if she'd just scooped up everything relating to my previous life and made it her own. "I don't own the store; I just let the two rent the place at a discount. They weren't doing too well a few years ago, some of the larger stores tried to put them out of business, but I made sure that was taken care of as well. We have an agreement about this place and Jasmine, they help make sure that everything's all right for her and we're settled."

George nodded. "We pay rent and make sure to supply Jasmine with enough supplies to make the school a riot and that's pretty much it."

"Well there are a few things they help me with," she said, playing with the necklace that she'd concealed me in. The meaning wasn't lost on me and I turned to see what the twins thought. I tried to probe their minds but found them a bit more difficult than I would have thought. I glanced at Jasmine and she winked and nodded back to them.

They were both staring at me a little confused. "You know about him then?" Fred finally asked. "Is that why you're here?"

Jasmine looked at the both of them confused but Aja distracted her and the twins bore down on me, moving me to the other side of the room. "You support Harry Potter?" They whispered in extremely hushed tones. I smiled when I understood as I finally moved past their erected shields. "I believe that the world has gone to shit and he's the only one who can help us. I'm also aware of what he's thinking most of the time, it's a gift I've been given, a connection."

Fred stooped in closer, his eyes looking pleadingly to me. "Do you know where he is?" he asked quietly. "Where they've imprisoned him? We know he's in a time-box, but we've never been able to figure out where even with Aja's help."

I shook my head, not wanting to reveal that I was no longer locked up. I would pretend to know some, but not everything.

"Then can you tell us what he's thinking of right now?" George asked desperately. Is he alright, I mean is the place he's at really that bad?

"It is, it's always dark and there's nothing at all to do. Nothing ever changes day after day after day. He has his memories and his thoughts and right now he's thinking about his daughter and how much he wants to know her."

The two glanced between themselves and Fred glanced discreetly at Jasmine. I noticed it only because I was expecting it, otherwise I would have missed it completely. "Who's his daughter?" George asked trying to feign lack of knowledge. I smiled disarmingly glancing meaningfully at Jasmine. "Are you telling me you don't know after all this time? It didn't take me long to figure it out once I'd met her."

"But how does he know?" Fred asked.

"He knows a great deal of things," I said quietly. "Being trapped in a box doesn't mean he can't see into this world. He didn't know before hand and he regrets it but now... there's nothing he can do about it."

Someone wandered through the curtain and the woman who I'd zapped looked around for me. When her eyes came to rest on me she stared as if unsure if I was the same person who'd hurt her but I smiled and she glared then came stomping my way. I bent over and when I came back up again I was back to my former disguise. It bothered her a little bit to see me change so fast and she slowed down. The twins both turned to her, almost as if standing as guards over me. I gently pushed them aside though, waiting to see how she'd react. When she was finally in front of me she fell forward on her knees and started crying.

The twins looked startled as she wrapped her hands around my legs. "Please do it again," she begged as she cried into my robes. I felt a bit shocked but smiled as I drained her again and she fainted at my feet with a smile on her lips.

"That's new," George said.

"Exactly what is it that you did to her?" Fred asked as he leaned over her, checking her pulse.

I grinned, reaching down and picking her up with some work. Then I summoned a bed out of thin air and laid her on it. "She's a masochist, nothing to be too worried about, but I think that when I made her faint earlier she liked it a lot."

George and Fred exchanged looks that made me curious. "That's probably why she's wanted to work as a tester," Fred said with a smirk, "she likes it when she gets injured while testing the new products."

The woman was laid out and the two were looking at me a little uncomfortably. "Are you planning on trying to break him out?" Fred asked me silently glancing over at the two women who were still talking.

I didn't answer immediately. George bent in closer again, "don't worry," he said barely above a whisper. "We've been trying to figure out how to do it for years now. Aja had a few suggestions, but they never turned up anything. We've got a friend on the inside working on finding out his location though."

"Neville?" I asked, knowing the answer even before I asked. Their minds were so easily read once I'd gotten past the barriers. I wasn't sure if they were the ones that had erected the barriers because of that, but I ignored the fact for now; I needed to find exactly how many people I had to work with. When I'd been in the cell I had thought I had no one, and yet somehow I'd already found a handful of people who had stayed loyal to me in the end. There were of course those idiots who didn't know and believed I'd died as hero, I wasn't particularly interested in them, I was about to take over the world and reform it and most of them wouldn't be happy about that. For now I needed to find people that would understand the truth of my cause.

I wanted to meet Neville, and sometimes soon, I wanted to know how he'd survived after he disappeared. It was also curious that he had a son who was the same age as my daughter – I should have known something about that. I was still free when both of them were born.

The two seemed more and more surprised as I continually knew who and what they were talking about. "Are you an empath?" George finally asked. "You're reading us even through our walls. No one's ever been able to do that."

"Walls are easily fallen," I said quietly.

"You can read Harry," Fred pointed out.

Smiling, I close my eyes for a moment. "That, is a special case," I said clearly, but not overdoing it.

Aja came up behind me, slipping her hand into mine. "It's time we go," she said. "Neville is expecting to see us."

Good, there were some things I would like to speak with him about.

•


End file.
